The Darkness Within
by Generic NPC
Summary: It is the story of a man, and a summoner on her journey to defeat sin. The beginning of this story is a lot like the beginning of the game, but it will alter as it progresses.
1. The Calamity

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, concepts, ideas, or scenarios. They are the property of Square-Enix, and its subsidiaries. Any similarities between this story and reality is purely coincidental and unintentional. With that said, enjoy this story.

Final Fantasy X: The Darkness Within

Prologue

The sun was beginning to rise, on that city… what was left of it. As the light touched the tall buildings, it came as something as a shock to the small band of people that stood just on the outskirts. Zanarkand… holy city of Yevon. The final step of a summoner's journey. The Final Aeon. There weren't any words between them, as the light unveiled nothing but ruins. Not far off from the group a marvelous blue sword planted into the ground. A fanciful staff tilting slightly to the right was planted just behind the sword. And a blitzball sat, next to the previous two items. A young man stood up, placing his hand on a young woman. She nods to the man, closing her mismatched eyes. One eye was as sapphire, the other as emerald… it was almost eerie to think about at times, but they seemed to fit her. She then opened them again, as the man walked over to towards the edge of the cliff to look over the ruins of the city. Small circles of abnormal lights floated above the city.

_Listen to my story; this may be our last chance._

The nighttime of Zanarkand was a busy time, especially this night, with the Zanarkand Abes playing in the championship game this evening. The lights were everywhere, blinding like the sun, never dimming, never going out. On a night like this… it would seem that everything was perfect. Walking out of his house, a young man was greeted with a throng of supporters. The young man had black hair that came down just below his ears, wore a yellow vest, slightly opened, a white hood draped down his shoulder blades. He also wore black shorts that extended down just slightly down past his knees. Around his neck was a chain with a Zanarkand Abes logo on it, the very same symbol that was shown on his shorts.

"Can you sign this?" a little kid asked.

"No prob." He said. The young man took the ball, and signed it. It was tough to make out, but the signature said 'Ethan' on it. Just as soon as he was done signing the ball, another kid practically shoved his blitzball in the young man's face.

"Please?" asked the second kid. The young man, took this ball and signed it the same way.

"Alrighty." He said, as he handed the ball back to the kid, and a third kid asked for an autograph.

"Me too!" said the third kid, who was even more excited than the first two.

"Take it easy!" the young man said, though he was reveling in the attention that he was given. He would then hand the blitzball to the kid, before walking over to two attractive women; one with a pink top, and the other in a blue outfit, both holding blitzballs.

"Can I have your autograph?" asked the woman in blue. The young man smiled. Evidently, being the star player of the Zanarkand Abes had it's perks. He would then take the blitzball that the woman in blue was holding before signing it, handing it back to her. Then he would take the other blitzball, signing it.

"Good luck tonight." Said the woman in pink. The young man then spun the blitzball on his finger, before handing it back to her.

"Nothing to worry about." He said, "Oh! If I score a goal… I'll do this!" The young man pumped both of his fists into the air, in a self-celebratory fashion. "That'll mean it was for you." The two girls giggled as he did so, before looking at him again with admiration.

"What seat?" he asked.

"East block, in the front row, fifth from the right." Said the woman with the pink top. The young man was now surrounded by his fans as the second kid began to balance his signed blitzball on his forehead. He however had a game to get to.

"Well, gotta go! Cheer for me!" the young man said. The three kids blocked his path.

"…Two, three… Teach us how to blitz!" the three of them said. It was becoming clear that the young man was becoming impatient, but with all of the people surrounding him, his patience would just have to stretch a little more. The young man was a nice, patient and perhaps overall polite, almost to a fault.

"Hey, I have a game to play!" he insisted. But the three kids wouldn't relent.

"Then teach us after." One of the kids said. The young man, didn't seem to enthusiastic. Partly because that patience was wearing thin, partly because he had plans to see the two women after the game.

"Maybe tonight… uhm… well…" he said, looking for any excuse. A short boy, hooded with his face unseen, appeared out of thin air. No one else seemed to notice, to include the young man who had his back turned toward him.

"You can't tonight." The hooded boy said. There seemed to be a sort of finality in those words that the young man didn't seem to pick up on. Those words spoken as if just to the young man.

"I mean… tomorrow." Said the young man. The eyes of the three kids lit up, as if they were shocked and pleased to hear his answer.

"Promise?" one of the kids said. The young man smiled and nodded.

"Promise!" he said. The three kids then made a motion with their hands, cupping their hands and placing their right hand just above their left, making it look something like a sphere, before slightly bowing forward, toward the young man. Finally, he was able to get onto the road.

Zanarkand… it was a highly-busy metropolis filled with high-rise buildings, advanced technology, and the occasional waterfall. The city's lights illuminated the sky, and everything else that it touched. Zanarkand was a city that never seemed to sleep. It was amazing to see all the activities that went on in that city, but right now, all eyes were on the Blitzball stadium. The young man looked up towards a billboard, intent. It depicted a darkly tanned man, black hair, and wearing a red bandanna. With a smirk, he began jogging again. As he jogged coming closer to the stadium, he heard the announcer speaking.

"I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone, vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. 'Zanar,' I says to myself, 'What are you thinking?' I went running straight back home. We sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much. Whoa… Didn't mean to reminisce, folks. Anyways… ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup is today! The two teams that have won through to the finals are of course, the Abes from A-East, and the Duggles from C-South. I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Abes! I just one year, he's become the team's umber one player! He's Jecht's blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of super play will he show us today? Will we see his father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited today."

The young man finally made it to the stadium as hundreds of fans approach him. They crowded around him, making it difficult for him to get through. They pawed at him, hoping to have a chance to touch him, or pat him on the shoulder, or otherwise show their support for him.

"Make way, make way! Coming through, sorry! Hey, I'm going to be late! Let me through! Hey! Let go of me!" he said as he tried to make it through the crowds. It wasn't that he was trying to be rude, but with the game just about to start, he had to get to the locker room and get ready for the championship game. When he finally got to the stadium, he went immediately to the sphere pool. He sat inside a pool of water, trickling some of it on his head, letting the cool water trickle down.

A flock of people started to pile into the stadium as the game was about to begin. The two girls he had met earlier went to their spots east block, front row… fifth from the right. The lights of the stadium turned on as the entire sphere pool now started to fill up. The young man stood up, as the crowd's cheers became even more boisterous. It was time to blitz.

Far away on a high rise, overlooking the stadium a man stood. This man was older than the blitzball player, by several years. He was adorned in a red kimono; by his side was an unwieldly katana. On his face was a pair of dark sunglasses, and behind those sunglasses over his right eye was a scar. In his hand was a large white jug, as he faced what was a large tidal wave which was approaching the unsuspecting city of Zanarkand. The man just stared in that direction, his face grim, but knowing. He nodded at the impending doom, before walking off the high rise…

The game was fierce. It seemed that the Abes and the Duggles had no such concept of friendly rivalry. The players were brawling, and passing, but there wasn't much scoring going on. But it didn't seem to matter much as the fans were cheering. The young man rammed into one of the Duggals knocking him out of the sphere pool and into the stands. Save those one or two people that were in the way of the unfortunate blitzball player, everyone else cheered loudly. The young man took a moment to admire his work, before he got back to the game.

Back outside the city, unbeknownst to the people within, the tidal wave had formed into a gigantic ball of water. It was certainly an ill omen. As the man in the red kimono continued to walk through the city, making his way closer to the blitzball stadium, so too did the ball of water. Inside the city, the young man passed a blocker, and threw the ball past the goalie. He scores, as the crowd cheered even louder than before. He then looked towards the East block pumping both of his fists upwards for the two ladies, letting them know he scored for them. The ball was set in place as it shot up, and all the players scrambled for the loose ball. He then jumped out of the water, above the sphere as the ball was sent out of the water as well. Flipping backwards, the young man intended to do a bicycle kick, when he saw the second ball of water that was formed in the air a distance away from the stadium. His eyes went wide at this strange phenomenon, before his mouth hung open at what happened next.

The water mass sent out several dozens of destructive energy which smashed into the city, destroying whatever they touched with relative ease. The entire city becomes engulfed with water, as the young man managed to grab onto a girder high above the stadium. The stadium itself wasn't spared from the destruction and chaos, as it began to shake, which made the man fall.

The survivors from the stadium began to run away in a frenzied panic, trying to get away from whatever it was that had happened. They were running in every direction, trampling over each other in their desperate flight. Opening his eyes, the young man had no idea what was going on, disoriented from the fall. The very same voices from what once were fans, were now the horrid and terrified screams of surviving victims, trying to preserve their lives by running away. The young man stood up and began to run as well. He wasn't sure where he was going to run away to, but he just decided to run as well. As he ran, he noticed a familiar person. It was the man in the red kimono. He ran up to the older man, who seemed relatively calm despite all the chaos and carnage that was running rampant through the city.

"Auron! What are you doing here?!" the young man demanded to know. The man in the red kimono turned to look at him.

"I was waiting for you." He said. This didn't make much sense to the young man. But even though this didn't seem like the best time to get an explanation, the young man asked anyway.

"What are you talking about?" But, the young man wasn't going to get his answer, as Auron began to walk away, further down the street. Wanting answers, and also not wanting to be alone, the young man followed him. The people were running around in complete disarray, not having any idea what to do, just knowing they wanted to get away from the danger. But as they were running away from the watery ball of death, Auron was moving towards it. Without warning, everything just seemed to freeze. The young man looked around frantically, as it seemed that he was the only one able to still move. Thing were becoming even more confusing than before.

"It begins." Said a voice from behind the young man. He turned around to see the short hooded boy once again. The expression on the young man's face was evident. Scared, lost… and seemingly alone. It was understandable, as the boy had a tone of compassion in his voice. "Don't cry." Just like that time unfroze. The young man gasped, surprised at all the events that have unfolded. What should have been possibly the best night of his life, turned into the worst possible thing that could ever happen. But perhaps just as bad as all this chaos and death, was his confusion.

"What the… hey wait!" The young man shouted, as he ran down the street again to meet up with Auron. "Not this way!" Why would Auron walk towards the danger, instead of run in the opposite direction.

"Look." Said Auron. The young man looked up towards the massive ball of water, and gasped once again. Now that he had seen it again, at a closer vintage, the ball of water was truly a marvel to behold. One that was deadly, one that has already claimed many lives, and seemed insatiable for death. "We called it…Sin." Said the older man.

"Sin?" said the young man, as if trying to understand what sort of thing could cause so much devastation. Just as if to answer the young man's question, tentacles protruded from the ball of water and smashed into a nearby building, completely decimating it. As this was happening hundreds of small pod like things ejected from the tentacles, landing on the ground. The two men looked at the pod like things intently before one by one they started to crack open. When they did, they appeared to be huge insect like monsters, poised to attack. They were quick, and in mere seconds they had the young man surrounded in a semi-circle. The young man tried to swat at the things with his bare hands, but each time he swung his fist, it caught nothing but air. Still he kept trying until he lost his balance and fell right onto his ass.

Auron seemed rather amused by this display, that was until the young man fell. He then reached into his sleeve to pull out a strange looking pink like sword. He then offered it to the young man.

"Take it." He said. The young man stared at the blade for a moment or two before looking back at Auron. He then took the sword, holding it high into the air, before fumbling with it, nearly dropping it. "A gift from Jecht."

The young man looked at Auron, not for a moment believing him.

"My old man?" he asked. He then moved forward, swinging the blade wildly at the insect like monsters, which caused them to back up and away. Once again, the young man's momentum caused him to lose his balance as he fell on his ass again. But he stood up recovering himself quickly.

"I hope you know how to use it." Auron said, rather sarcastically. It would take the young man a moment, but he was a quick study, and learned how to wield it well enough to defend himself. The battle started as Auron and the young man began to cut through the bug like creatures. After having sliced through a few of them, they began to see that this was going to be futile, as more pods replaced the creatures that they had cut through.

"These ones don't matter. We cut through!" said Auron with urgency in his voice. Slicing through a wedge of the insects, the two warriors began making leadway in which for them to get through, but their job was far from over. The young man was just swinging his sword wherever he could, but the more experienced warrior, was bidding his energy.

"Don't bother going after all of them, cut the ones that matter, and run!" said Auron, though it was in an almost advisory way. With that, the young man just concentrated on the ones ahead of him, slicing through them, making room to run. As they ran, a loud crash was heard, not far in front of them. The young man looked at Auron who was already running towards where the noise came from. With a hasty sigh, he ran after Auron. As they ran, they could see up in the distance a strange tentacle like monster, and surrounding it were the same insect creatures from before. The young man didn't look so sure about this. With the apparent destruction of the city, a watery ball of death looming over the city, and tentacle monsters coupled with overgrown insects. It wasn't exactly just another day.

The two warriors began to attack the tentacle creature. Auron jumped into the air, his large katana crashing down to the ground cause a shockwave of energy to crash forward hitting all the creatures ahead of them. It was enough to kill all the insect creatures, and it seemed to disorient the larger tentacle monster. The young man then charged at the tentacle creature, before he jumped into the air as well, twisting into an aerial then a flip, before slicing into the monster. The creature then fell to the ground and for some inexplicable reason, it exploded. Though the young man was tired, and somewhat confused about why the monster exploded, Auron ran on. With no other choice, the young man followed, running up the road, the young man stopped to take a look at a building that didn't seem to be affected by the devastation. It was a wonder that anything could have survived the onslaught, but he realized he had passed this building before. There on the side of the building was the very same billboard that had the man with the red bandanna on his head.

"What are you laughing at, old man?" the young man demanded, as if he had something to do with this. He then looked at Auron who was still running. "Auron! Let's get out of here!" It was then that Auron slowed his stride to a walk, before stopping completely. He then turned to look at the young man.

"We're expected." He said, as he glanced upwards. They young man clearly didn't understand what Auron meant by that.

"Huh?" The young man uttered. But once again, his questions would not go answered. The older man, turn once again to run. Exasperated, the young man began to express his frustrations. "Gimme a break, man!" He took off after Auron, and as he began to catch up, more of the pod like creatures fell surrounding them. The insects hatched, and crept closer to the two. Auron glanced around at the grim situation they found themselves in.

"Hmph. This could be bad." Auron said, as he still took in all of his surroundings. Suddenly he saw a piece of machinery, crackling with electricity and energy. Auron pointed it out to the young man. "That! Knock it down!" The young man wasn't sure what that would accomplish.

"What?" asked the young man.

"Trust me. You'll see." Said Auron. That was probably the closest thing to an answer the young man would ever get from Auron. The two of them began to attack the machine, and the more they attacked it, the more it crackled with energy. With a final strike, it began to fall, exploding on its way down. The explosion destroyed all the insect creatures, but unfortunately, the bridge became unstable, and it was starting to explode as well.

"Go!" he shouted as he began to run up the bridge. They both did, avoiding the best they could the explosions that occurred. The young man made a huge leap and grabs onto the edge of a broken piece of the road, which was facing diagonally upwards. Auron walks up calmly, standing just above his hands.

"Auron! Auron!!!" shouted the young man. Wasn't Auron going to help? The large ball of water was now practically right above them now. Debris was being sucked into the water, the wind picked up, and it was threatening to suck the young man as well. Auron looked up at the ball of water, as if he and the water ball were reaching an agreement.

"Are you sure?" asked Auron up to the ball of water. There was a strange sort of silence. Auron then closed his eyes, just briefly before opening his eyes again and looking at the young man. "This is it." Auron then leaned down and grabbed the young man by his collar. "This is your story. It all begins here."

There was a bright light which blinded the young man. He wasn't sure what happened next, and all of his questions, his confusion… but no answers. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.

"Hey! HEY!" He shouted. Slowly the light subsided, as he saw Zanarkand. It appeared to look completely peaceful, no destruction or screaming people running here or there like a chicken with their heads cut off. The only thing that was out of place was a pillar of fire, off in the distance. This did nothing more than to compound the confusion the young man.

"My old man?" said the young man, to himself. He was floating in what was a surreal version of the city he knew well. Weightless, for a moment, the young man felt that he didn't even exist, as he descended down towards the platform where the pillar of fire was. On that platform… he saw a small kid. As he neared, a white light shined blinding him, just as before.

"_I thought about a lot of things… like where I was, what I got myself into. I started to feel light-headed… and then sleepy. I think I had a dream. A dream of being alone. I wanted someone—anyone, beside me…so I wouldn't have to feel alone anymore."_

**(A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know that save for like one or two things, this is pretty much a rewrite of the first like fifteen minutes of Final Fantasy X, but as the chapters progress you will see changes and differences in this story. Anyway, tell me what you think thus far!)**


	2. Ruins and Dreams

Chapter 1

A Ruin of Dreams

A bright light flashed in the young man's eyes. He was alone, once again, looking around frantically. The young man didn't know where he was. All he knew was that he was in a strange place, the sky was dark, and it had an air of unpleasantness and gloom. The structures that the young man looked at seemed to have been eroded away into nothing but ruins, as the sounds of rushing water filled his ears. With nothing else to do, the young man stood up and shook his head, before letting out a yell.

"Anybody there? Auron?! Heeeyyyy!" The young man heard a noise from above him. Looking upwards, the young man saw a bird just in time to watch it fly towards a large building. Figuring that was the best place to go, the young man swam towards it, grabbing on to the ledge of the stone structure, he emerged from the water, running along side of it. As he got to the edge of the structure, he looked in the water, as he thought that he saw some movement underneath the waters. He was about to have a better vantage point of view as the stone walkway crumbled underneath him, dropping him into the water. After taking a look, and seeing three fish like monstrosities surround him, the young man dropped underneath the water, as he produced his sword.

The fish monsters rushed at the young man, who managed if only just barely, to fend off their first attack. The young man swam after one of them, swinging his sword as it impaled through one of them. The fish monster disappeared in a cloud of weird looking lights. The other two fish, regrouped, rushing at the young man; this time simultaneously in an effort to overpower the young man. He managed to dodge the attack of the first fish, but the second one came in too fast, as it bit into the young man's leg. He grimaced in pain, as blood spurted out from the wound that was made. But the warrior wasn't about to let the monster win, as he sank his sword deep into the belly of the fish monster. Then with a powerful underwater swing of the sword, he lopped the head off the monster as it also died disappearing in a large cloud of the strange lights. With that, the third of the group retreated. The young man nodded, thinking that the fish had enough, and didn't want to share the same fate as it's two companions did. But as he turned in the water, he quickly found out that this just wasn't true. The young man's eyes widened as a large fish, almost as big as a house was fast approaching them, as it easily knocked over some stone pillars in its charge. The young man only had a moment to dive further into the water, just as its large gaping maw opened to swallow the young man. The smaller fish monster however wasn't so lucky as it became dinner.

Turning around, it set its sights back on the young man who steadied his sword, intent on defending himself. The young man was pleased to see that he was slightly more agile than the fish, but against a monstrosity of this size… there was little that the fighter could do. Except for one thing, swim away as fast as he could. With a final powerful strike to the gargantuan creature's fin, the young man swam as fast and as frantically as he could, as he just barely dodged yet another attempt at being swallowed.

"Whoa!" he said resurfacing for just a moment, taking that brief moment to look about, before resubmerging into the water. Suddenly, he saw an underwater opening, and swam towards it with all the energy that he had left. The fish knew that the young man was running out of energy, and swam at the young man, quickly gaining on him. The fish's mouth opened wide, as it nearly had the young man completely in his mouth. Fortunately for the young man, the gigantic fish hit a wall, and pushed the young man through the opening, and sprawled him out and onto the floor of a building in a thin layer of water. He hit the back of his head on a wall. Several stones block the opening that he had been pushed through.

Standing up slowly, rubbing the back of his head, and taking a look at the wound on his leg, he figured that he hadn't done so bad, considering he was ambushed and how did one fight something that was as big as a house? The young man shivered as he tried to pass the thought that he had almost been swallowed whole. He hadn't noticed it before, but now he felt how cold it was in here, and as when he breathed he could see his breath in front of him.

"_I had made it out of the frying pan… and into the freezer. I thought I was going to die in this place." _

The young man began to walk down the corridor, looking at the odd scenery when he came into a large room. The room was spacious and had seen better days, as it looked almost completely destroyed. Off to the side, he saw a waterfall, due to the water seeping in, a foreboding shadow coming over the young man, knowing that the building could come crashing down around him at anytime. But still, he felt that he'd rather take his chances in here, than back out with the gigantic fish. The young man continued to shiver; the fact that he was soaking wet didn't exactly help with his body temperature. In the middle of the room, he saw what looked to be the remains of a campfire.

"Cold… need fire." The young man said aloud to himself. He saw where the campfire had been, so he figured that there had to be some fire making supplies around this structure somewhere. Frantically he searched around, looking for something, anything that could help him start up a fire. He spotted an old beat up and battered desk, looking inside a drawer he found some flint and steel, which seemed a little too convenient, but the young man choose not to question it. Now all he needed was tinder. He found some stairs, and decided to walk up them, looking to see if there was anything that could be used to start a fire. But to no avail, as everything seemed to be drenched with water. Looking around a little more, tucked away in a corner of a destroyed room were some wilted flowers. Flowers that didn't look like it had been touched with any water in more years that should have been good.

For a moment, the young man wondered what could have ever of happened to this building that made it so dilapidated, but then as he shivered once again, the mission of getting himself warm again became priority. The young man then grabbed the withered bouquet and ran back to where the campfire was. Quickly he worked to get the fire started, and as the fire began, he would put his hands over the fire to warm himself up. He sighed with relief, as he laid down on the floor, looking up at the dome ceiling. Surely this place must have been some great important building sometime ago, but his musings were once again interrupted as he heard and felt his stomach growling.

"I need food!" he said out loud, as though someone was going to hear him. The young man then closed his eyes.

…_White Flash…_

"You do understand what this means right?" a young girl about thirteen years old said. The woods were small, but it was always enough for their purposes. Standing not five feet away from the girl was the young man, also of about thirteen years in age. He didn't like the news he had heard from her at all. After all, it didn't seem fair that she was going away, just because her father's job required her to move away.

"But, we'll never see each other again. How in the hell are we supposed to stay friends if we never see each other again? It's bullshit, Michelle!" the young man replied.

… … …

"It's your fault my daughter's dead! It's your fault! And all you can say is sorry?! I told her not to be friends with you! And now you've gone and killed her! Get out of my sight… Get out and I swear if I ever see you again, I'll kill you! Go!" said an older man, in his early forties.

The young boy then ran away from the man, never looking back as he ran into those woods, which seemed to be the only place where he could find solitude.

"I won't cry… I'll become so much stronger, that I'll never cry ever again, and no one will die because I wasn't strong enough!" said the young boy, clenching his fists.

Behind him, the mysterious hooded boy walked up behind him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You cried." He said solemnly.

…_White Flash…_

The young man grimaced at his thoughts, so lost in them, that he didn't even notice that the fire was going out, until it was almost too late. But he was a little too tired for it to completely register in his mind the impending doom of his fire. But then he shook his head, as if to chase away his sleepiness, staring down at the fire. He jumped up to his feet.

"Hey, wait! Wait! Don't go out on me! Just hold on. I'll get more wood!" he said. He began to take off in a desperate search for wood, but stopped as he heard a noise from behind him. Turning around, he noticed a large bug like monster, not unlike a great big preying-mantis like creature running alongside the walls of that room at a great speed. It then jumped down landing not far from him, destroying the campfire, and making the young man spring backwards to avoid the attack. The young man was quick to draw his sword, but the monster was even quicker about attacking. It attacked with one of it's front legs, which smashed into the stomach of the young man. He stumbled backwards, almost dropping his sword, and with it any chance of staying alive. But the young man was determined, as he ran at the monster and hacked away at the very same leg that it attacked with. The two combatants seemed rather evenly matched, as neither seemed to gain the upper hand on the other. The creature then reared up and used both of his front legs to knock the warrior down, gaining the advantage. An advantage that was short-lived.

From behind the warrior, the door that he had passed through only maybe an hour before exploded, splintering off into hundreds of pieces. As the smoke cleared, a small group of people stood, as a peculiarly dressed female stood up in the front. She then ran up beside the young man, helping him up to his feet, before throwing a strange oval object at the creature. As it landed in front of him, the object exploded, as the creature gave a pained screech.

The young man turned to look at the female, taking note of what she looked like in the second or two that he had.

"You on my side? Cool!" said the young man, just glad that he wasn't in this building of death by himself anymore. The smoke cleared, but the monster was still alive. The young man couldn't believe it, but the girl threw three more of those exploding ovals, before the creature finally dissipated into a cloud of the strange looking lights. Breathing heavily, obviously tired from his trials the young man turned to face his helper. The female then lifted her visor and goggles that she was wearing, and the young man took note of the strange looking pupils, to her otherwise gorgeously green eyes. Her pupils weren't round like his were, but rather they were swirls. For a moment, the young man was taken aback by it, evidenced by how he stared at her with his mouth open. He then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew. That was close." He said, once his adrenaline stopped pumping a mile a minute.

But this wouldn't last long as one of the people from the group walked up behind the young man, and grabbed him forcefully by his hair.

"Hey! Let me go!" said the young man, as he began to struggle. The others from the group raised their rifles at him, which made the young man stop struggling.

"Fryd ec drec?" said the person who was holding him down.

"Y **Fiend **Eh risyh teckieca!" said another one of the group. The young man clearly couldn't understand what they were saying, and this infuriated him even further than before.

"Oac! Ed ec cu!" Yet another one of them said. Just then he pulled out a knife and placed it dangerously close to the young man's throat. "Fa gemm ed?"

"Fyed! Fryd ev ed ec risyh?" the girl asked, obviously not liking the conversation that was going on.

The man with the knife looked at the girl and pointed the knife at her.

"Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr." Said the man with the knife. The girl looked worried as the young man was just confused with all of this strange language. All he knew was that the men seemed to want to cause him serious harm, but this young girl who couldn't have been older than fifteen was trying to save his life yet again.

"E vunpet ed! Fa penhk ed fedr ic!" she said as if it was the final say so. She then turned to the young man, and placed a hand on his shoulder, leaning close to him as if she wanted to say something. "Cunno." She said just as she kneed him in the stomach harshly, making him lose consciousness.

…_White Flash…_

"Hey, Michelle! Look at this!" The young boy said, as he hung upside down in a tree that they climbed in almost everyday. The girl giggled as he watched the young boy try to impress her. But then she looked down, almost as though she were ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come to your birthday party. Dad thinks that you're a bad influence on me. I hope I didn't make you mad at me." She said. The young boy sat back up the right way, as he offered his hand to help her up the tree.

"I just don't see why he has to pick your friends for you. I'm not a bad person, Michelle." He said. The girl nodded back to him.

"I know you're not. But he just doesn't want to see that. I think that he thinks that all boys are… well… you know." She said. There was a brief silence, which felt awkward between the two of them.

"Yeah… I know. Boys are walking hormones, bent on the destruction of girl's innocence and virginity, right?" the young boy said with a smile. This caused the girl to smile a little.

"Aren't they? Boys are icky!" she said jokingly, as she put up her hands crossing her two index fingers into a cross as if to ward away evil spirits. The young boy laughed a little bit, as they were just enjoying each other's company. She then put her arms around him, and gave him a hug. "But every so often, a boy comes along who is sweet and kind, like you. Please promise me something…"

"What is it?" he said as the smile began to drain from his face.

"Please promise me that you'll never change." Michelle said, her blue eyes piecing into his soul.

"I…"

…_White Flash…_

When he opened his eyes, the young man found himself on the deck of a strange looking boat. Beyond the boat was a vast ocean, that didn't seem to have any beginning or end. Fortunately the climate here seemed somewhat warmer, than inside the structure. But surrounding him was a veritable forest of ankles and legs. He began to stand up, when one of the men hit him with the butt of a rifle; which made the young man fall back on his ass.

"Ced, lybdeja!" he said. The young man rubbed his chest where the man had hit him.

"Hey! That hurts!" the young man said defiantly.

"Hu sujehk rayn?!" said the man who hit him. Feeling dejected, he just sat there, wondering where the female was who had helped him. It seemed like she was the only one who had any sort of pull around here, and was the only reason why he was still alive. It was then that two more people approached the young man. A tall muscular man with a blonde Mohawk, and sure enough, the same young female from before. The Man with the Mohawk grabbed him and pulled him up to his feet before signaling to the others.

"Caynlr res!" he said. The he turned to the young man, making a lot of strange motions with his arms, which seemed to be swimming motions, but couple with that and his incessant grunting, the translation must have been lost on the young man. The young man's facial expression was one that looked like he was lost.

"Right. Whatever." Said the young man, not really caring whether or not he sounded rude, or anything like that. He was tired of being told what to do, getting hit, eaten alive, freezing to death, so a man who was grunting like an ape seemed like nothing.

The man with the Mohawk was getting frustrated. "Tu oui hud cbayg?" he asked. The young man shook his head, now just getting angry at this man. The Mohawk man then showed the fighter a necklace, pointing to it, coupled with even more grunt. Finally the young man just snapped.

"I said I don't understand!" he shouted, wanting to punch the man in his face.

"Ehcumahla!" the Mohawk man shouted with equal vehemence. One of the men raised his rifle at the young man his finger on the trigger, ready to fire when the girl shouted again.

"Fyed!" she said, making the man with the rifle, lower it. She would then look at the young man who was only a moment from being killed. "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."

The young man's eyes widened as he took a few steps towards the girl, excitedly.

"You… you understand me?!" he demanded to know. He was rewarded with a rifle's butt stroke to the back of the head. "Ow! All right, I'll work!" This exclamation seemed to appease his captors, at least for the time being. As he wondered what he had just jumped into this time. There wasn't much time to wonder as the girl spoke once again, jarring the young man out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Almost forgot." She said as she tossed a book to him. "Make sure you take a look at that book when we get back. I guess for now, just leave it on the ship so it doesn't get too wet. Now we are going deep into the water."

The young man took a look at the book, before setting it aside. He then noticed a large mechanical structure next to him. He placed his hand on it, as he observed it.

"What's this? Some sort of crane?" the young man asked. It was then that the Mohawk man shouted at him.

"Rao, oui! Kad yfyo vnus drana!" he shouted. The young man didn't understand, but from the context of his shouting, he figured he shouldn't touch the crane.

"All right, all right! You don't have to shout." The young man said indignantly. He then turned to the girl, wondering what was next. As if she sensed his thoughts, she began to speak again. He walked over to her again, as she spoke.

"We found some ancient ruins right beneath us. It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're going to go down and activate it… then we'll salvage the big prize!" The young man murmured in agreement. It wasn't like he had much of a choice in the matter. The murmur he gave was enough for the girl to get excited. "Okay, let's get to work!"

With that, they both jumped and plunged into the water, diving deep into the water. At first, as the two of were plunging down the sun's rays soon weren't able to penetrate the deep waters. The girl turned her flashlight on that was attached to her wrist. So at least now there was a little bit of light. Entering into the ruins, the girl went to what looked to be a console, pressing a few buttons; the lights within the ruins came on, illuminating the area to make it easier to see. She then pointed to another console, signifying that the young man should move to turn on the console. He did so, pressing a few buttons, a soft humming sound emitted from the structure. The girl then signaled for the young man to return, that they were done here. The young man nodded, but then his eyes widened as a large octopus like creature came up from behind them. He drew his sword quickly, and the girl realized that something was behind her, as she turned around to come face to face with the huge octopus creature. She then dodged out of the way as it lunged at her, just barely missing her. The young man swam after it as he slashed at the monster, striking one of its arms. The girl also swam at the monster striking it with her fist, which a claw protracted from. The monster shrieked as it slammed one of its arms into the stomach of the girl, pushing her into the wall. She shook it off however, as the young man thought of a better way to attack the monster. Dodging another arm, the young man signaled for the girl to try to get behind the creature. Getting the message, the girl quickly swam behind the monster as the two of them pressed their attack heavily and furiously, not giving an inch to the monster, who eventually dissipated into a cloud of those unusual glowing lights.

Relieved at the fact that the danger had passed, the two of them swam back up to the surface, the young man wanting nothing more than to rest. He overheard some of the people talking.

"Fa vuiht dra **airship**! Dra naluntc fana nekrd." Said the Mohawk man. The young man hopped back onto the ship, shaking the water off of him. Looking over to the side of him, the group of people were talking amongst themselves, but as to what they were saying was still something of a mystery to him. As they were talking, the group were starting to walk inside the ship.

"Huf, ruf du tnyk ed ib?" the Mohawk man pondered mostly to himself, but loud enough for everyone to hear. The young man began to follow the group inside, when one of the men turned back around pushing him back outside.

"Oui, uidceta!" he shouted as he hit him to further push the young man outside. The young man was getting furious, as he was tired of helping people who didn't seem to give a rat's ass about his well-being.

"Hey! I helped out, didn't I?!" he said but the door was closed and no one heard him. He sighed exasperated, as he laid down on the deck.

…_White Flash…_

"So that's it then? You haven't paid her a visit…" a woman in her mid-thirties said. The living room was small, but not cramped. The young boy was sitting on the couch, his view of the TV was obstructed. He frowned, as he knew what she was trying to get him to do. He didn't well appreciate the fact that he knew deep down inside, this woman also thought that the young boy was responsible.

"No, I haven't. And I don't want to." The young boy said, "So stop trying to force me to do something I don't want to do." The woman was taken aback. She couldn't believe the tone of the young boy's voice. She just sighed and walked away… but before she was completely out of the boy's view, she would softly say.

"The two of you were best friends… but now I see that there is only hated and destruction in your heart. I know I raised you to be better than that." The young boy growled, and threw the remote at the TV.

"You didn't raise me at all! You didn't do anything! You couldn't defend my position, or let them know the truth of what happened! You aren't anything!"

…_White Flash…_

When the young man opened his eyes, his stomach was growling. He hadn't realized it with his impending death, and the subsequent kidnapping, but the young man hadn't eaten since he came to this strange place. For that matter, he didn't know where exactly he was.

"Uhhh….. hungry." He said to himself. The girl approached him with a tray in her hands, as she lightly kicked the young man in the shoulder. She then crouched down and set the tray on the ground. The young man smiled wide, seeing the sight of food, as he sat up and began to eat quickly with his hands, not really caring whether or not he was being polite.

"Whoa! Right on!" he said as he began to practically inhale his food. After a few gulps of food, he began to choke on the food.

"Hey!" said the girl as she tossed him a bottle of water. The young man opened the bottle and began to drink the water, forcing the food down. He then gave a content sigh as he looked at the rest of his food, eating it much slower now.

"It's 'cause you eat too fast!" She said cheerfully. The young man stood up, with a merry laugh. He walked around the ship a little before stretching. The girl then walked behind him, looking at the man curiously.

"Hey!" she said. The young man then looked back at her, before nodding.

"Hello there. What is your name?" he asked.

"Rikku." The young girl answered. The young man's eyes widened once again; happy to hear that she did understand him.

"Whoa! You really do understand! Woohoo!" he said happier than he had been in a long time even laughing slightly before turning back to her, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"I didn't get a chance to! Everyone thought oui were a fiend." She said. The young man looked at her a little confused.

"Uh… we?" he asked. The girl realized that she had sprinkled a little of her language into the conversation.

"Oh… oui means you." She answered. The young man paused, not at all sure what to think, but decided to forget about it for now.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" he asked, since that seemed to be the most important question on his mind.

"We're Al Bhed, can't you tell? Wait. You're not an Al Bhed hater, are you?" she asked, looking worried that she would have to be cautious around this young man. The young man considered her words, but he didn't know what it all meant.

"I don't know what an Al Bhed is." He said. Rikku gave the young man an odd look, one that made the young man think that he had said something strange.

"Where are you from?" Rikku asked, eyeing the young man curiously.

"Zanarkand. I'm a blitzball player. Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!" he said proudly. Rikku's curious look didn't fade. If anything it seemed to intensify. She clearly didn't believe him, and was worried that something bad had happened to the young man.

"Did you… hit your head or something." She asked. The young man was starting to become a little annoyed by her line of questioning.

"Um, you guys hit me." He said.

"Oh, right… Do you remember anything before that?" she asked.

"_So I told her everything there was to tell about Zanarkand…About life there, blitzball, and Sin's attack… and about how Auron and I were engulfed in this light. But then I started to wonder."_

Rikku's face was solemn as the young man spouted everything that had happened to him, up to the time the two of them met. It was clear to the young man that Rikku was troubled by everything that he said.

"Did I say something funny?" the young man asked. Rikku seemed relieved when the young man mentioned Sin's attack.

"You were near Sin. Don't worry you'll be better in no time. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?" She said. The young man just looked at Rikku in disbelief.

"You mean I'm sick?" the young man asked. Rikku nodded.

"Because of Sin's toxin, yeah." She answered.

"You sure?" he asked, as if she was bluffing him. But it was clear after a moment that she wasn't.

"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So… no one plays blitzball anymore." She said. The young man was visibly surprised, there was no mistaking it. He turned to look at her, still intent that she was joking around.

"What do you mean a thousand years ago?! But I saw Sin attack Zanarkand! You're saying that happened a thousand years ago? No way!"

"_Of course, then I didn't want to believe her..." _

"You said… you play blitzball." Rikku said, mostly to herself. The young man nodded. Rikku's eyes then lit up, as though an inspiration had hit her. "You know, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize."

"Luca?" the young man asked, just adding another layer of confusion in his mind to his already confused mind.

Rikku shakes her head, as she walked away from the young man, thinking. She then walked around a bit, walking behind him, before an idea struck. She turned around and tapped the young man on his back. He turned around to look at her.

"Okay, leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, promise!" she said excitedly. The young man gave her a look, as if to say that he wasn't sure about the idea. "You'd rather stay here?" The young man didn't like that idea either. "Okay, I'll tell the others. Wait here."

She turned to begin to leave, before something else seemed to remind her of something important that she had to tell him.

"Oh, and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone." She said, sternly. The young man just nodded, not really grasping the seriousness of it all. She went inside the ship, as the young man just decided to lean against the rail, closing his eyes for a moment.

"_My Zanarkand, some kind of holy place? Yeah right, I thought. Since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? I thought Sin just took me to a faraway place, that I could go back in a day or two. But a thousand years into the future? No way!"_

…_White Flash…_

"I can't believe you got suspended from school again! That temper is going to get you into a lot of trouble, man." Said a teenager who was about sixteen years in age. The young boy had grown up to be a sixteen year old teenager as well. It was three years since that fateful day, and clearly it had affected him. The young man looked at his friend, and knew that he was only trying to help out, but there was a lot of anger in his heart, as he shoved his friend.

"Back off man, I don't remember asking you to be my mom. Grr, whatever, let's just get to your home and get done building that ramp." The young man said.

"Hey… if you don't mind me asking. What happened that day anyway? You know that I stuck by you while everyone else accused you of…" his friend began.

"You don't want to finish that thought. You know what, fuck it, I've got other things to do today anyway." The teenager said as he walked away from his friend.

…_White Flash…_

The young man walked over to the crane, wondering how the hell he was going to get back home. Walking up to the crane, he kicked it in his frustration and falls. A loud rumbling noise is heard, as the ship shakes violently. Off in the distance, a strange creature blasts out of the water. The door opens as people file out onto the deck, falling over themselves, in a total clatter and disarray.

"**Sin!"** shouted one of the Al Bhed.

"**Sin **ec lusa!" shouted another.

"Ihtan ic! Ihtan ic!" shouted a third.

The ship quakes once again, making the young man lose his balance and fall off overboard. Sinking into the water, the young man began to lose conciousness.


	3. The Island and the Summoner

Chapter 2

The Island and the Summoner

**As Before, I don't own crap. Feel free to leave reviews, constructive or otherwise. I won't mind it at all.**

Water was all around the young man's body as he was starting to regain his previously lost consciousness. Water, it seemed, was the key element in everything. But the young man, really didn't care about all that, as his first thought was that he was alive, and in a strange place once again. Coughing a bit as some of the water got into his lungs, he looked around bewilderedly trying to get his bearings straight.

"Rikku!" he shouted. But there wasn't an answer. At least not the answer he wanted, as something bonked him in the back of his head. Turning around, he half-expected to be attacked by some sort of… what did the Al Bhed call them? Fiends. But instead he was greeted by an unexpected, but extremely happy sight.

"Bltizball!" he exclaimed, as he looked further noticing that he was near a sandy coast. The area looked around him was a peaceful, serene lagoon as far as he could make out. Certainly more inviting then the last place he was at. Thinking about that freezing ruin, still made him shiver. But here looked like a veritable paradise in comparison to that. Palm trees were off in the distance, a blue sky with a warm and inviting sun, warming his face. But his attention was on the shore line where several men were gathered.

" 'ey! You okay?" called out one of the men. The young adventurer couldn't make out too much about the person who asked him a question. From where he was, he could tell that the man was wearing a blue headband just above his brow. The man had bright red, almost orange hair which stood almost straight up. He had a heavy islander accent, and wore a strange outfit, but seeing as how everyone else was wearing the same kind of outfit, the young man figured that it was the traditional garb of this land. Upon a closer look, the young man began to realize that they were reminiscent of blitzball uniforms. This made since, as he was hit by a blitzball, not ten seconds before.

"Heeeey!" the young man called out, before waving his hand at the new people. He then dove under the water, before re-emerging out of the water, hitting the blitzball up into the air with his head. The young man jumped fully out of the air, before doubling over doing a double bicycle kick just as the ball was starting to descend from the apex of its trajectory. With that kick, the ball soared in a bee-line towards the group of men, as the red haired man had to move quickly before the ball smashed in his face. He turned to watch the blitzball whiz past him, his mouth open in a look of dumb-struck awe, before looking at this mysterious stranger.

"Whoa-ho!" he exclaimed, voicing what the others were thinking. The red-haired man smirked, before his lips curved into a more prominent smile. The young man began to approach the shore line, as the group ran over to him, still clearly impressed with that one action. They practically surround him, leaving just enough room for the newcomer to breathe. He smiled cheerfully, glad to be around people again, and friendly enough people at that.

"Yo! Hiya!" the young man cheerfully said, with another weak, but not strained wave. They eyed him once, wondering who he was. But it was the red-haired man who spoke again, once again voicing the thoughts of everyone else.

"You wanna try that move one more time?" he asked.

"_Finally, things were starting to look up."_

A blitzball was thrown up into the air, while the group stepped back and out of the young man's way. As before, he bounced the ball off of his head, jumping up, flipping over as his feet slammed into the blitzball as it was coming back down. The ball was launched in a bee line over the water at an impressive speed. The others gasped, as it looked even better than the first shot, now that they weren't potential targets. Once again, as the others murmured amongst each other, the red-haired man spoke to the young man.

"You no amateur. Who do you play for?" he asked.

"The Zanarkand Abes!" the young man said with a swell of pride. Everyone gasped again, but this time, not because of an impressed air of awe. The young man picked up on this quickly, as he suddenly remembered what Rikku had told him. But before he could justify what he said, the red-haired man spoke again.

"What team you say again?" he asked, with more than a hint of concern in his deep islander accented voice. The young man seemed like he was backed into a corner, and he didn't like to use excuses, but he didn't want to scare off his new friends by spouting off things that they thought were impossible.

"Uh I meant… forget that. I got too uh… too close to Sin and my head's all foggy-like. So I don't know where this place is. Or even where I came from." The young man quickly explained. Which wasn't exactly false, but not completely true in his mind either. But the explanation seemed to appease those judging eyes. As the rest of the group went about their business. The young man knew that they were whispering about him, whether good or bad, but he couldn't really care at the time. The red-haired man eyed him again, but after a moment he seemed to believe the young man's explanation too.

"Sin's toxin got to you. But you're still alive. Praise be to Yevon." He said, before he would move his right forearm above his left, his hands curved into a circle, and he bowed forward slightly. The red-haired man's movements reminded him of those three kids back at Zanarkand… just before his life went completely loopy. It was strange to see this grown man do the exact same thing, but he decided not to say anything about it. After all, it didn't seem like it was his place. He then turned back to the group, and called out. "All right, back to practice!"

The group started to practice again, more energetically, it seemed than they had before, after seeing the young man pull off a spectacular looking shot not once, but twice. The red-haired man then nodded, looking back at the young adventurer.

"I'm Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda." He said, finally introducing himself. The young man was about to introduce himself, but his stomach seemed to answer for him. Wakka smiled, hearing a sound that was familiar to anyone who had a mind for food.

"What? You hungry? Okay! Back to the village. I'll get ya somethin'." Wakka said as he began to walk off. The young man began to follow him, eager to get to civilization, and more importantly, to food.

"_I felt like I could trust this Wakka, so I just had to ask."_

"It's true, that Zanarkand was destroyed, right? A thousand years ago? So it's just a pile of rubble now, isn't it?" the young man asked. Wakka's face became grim, before he turned to look at the young adventurer.

"Long time ago, there were a lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with machine—machines—to run 'em. People played all day, and let the machine do all the work. And then, well, take a look. Sin came, and destroyed the machine cities. And Zanarkand along with 'em." He said, before giving a sigh, "Yeah, that was a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you ask me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me though… is we gotta suffer 'cause of what some goofballs did way back when! Course, we must always repent for our sins! That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it, ya know?"

The young man stayed silent listening to everything Wakka had to say. This further gave the young man insight of why a monstrous creature could appear, though he was skeptical that because people used these… machines, Sin decided to destroy everything. He also realized that Wakka was a religious sort. Not that the young man had any problem with religion, just people who tried to push their religions on him.

"_It was just as Rikku said. Rikku and Wakka couldn't both be lying. Why would they?"_ Wakka began to laugh, shaking the young man out of his puzzling thoughts. Wakka seemed to be a jovial person who didn't let things get too serious, and that was a relief to the young man.

"But you from the Zanarkand Abes—that was a good one. Hey I'm not saying that team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure a team living in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?" Wakka said lightly. The young man nodded a little, with a faint smile.

"_I appreciated the fact that Wakka was trying to cheer me up. But at that time, all I could think about was… everything that happened to me—all this—happened with Sin. Maybe if I could find Sin one more time, I could go home! For now I'd just live life until that time came. No more worrying about where or when, I was. Sure it was hard not to think of home. But I started to feel better already. A little better… maybe."_

"Hey! It's this way!" shouted Wakka, who once again shook the young man out of his thoughts. The young man ran after Wakka, who had walked a distance while he was still clouded by his thoughts. Wakka began running inland some, prompting the young man to follow behind, running after him. After running about sixty meters, the two of them approached a ledge that overlooked a pool of water. The water was crystal blue, as they could see the bottom as clear as anything else. The young man stared intently down into the water. So intently in fact that he didn't notice Wakka stealthily sneak up on him until the last second. Wakka pushed the young man into the water.

"Huh? Waaaaaaaah!" shouted the young man as he was first confused about the sudden silence, then exclaimed as he was falling into the water. Fortunately the water was deep enough for him to land in safely. A few moments after, Wakka dove into the water, resurfacing next to the young man, who was obviously annoyed that he got pushed in.

"What's the big idea?!" he demanded to know. But Wakka just laughed and began to swim off, motioning for the young man to follow. With a huff, the young man followed Wakka. After swimming for a while, Wakka submerged into the water, swimming under the young man, before coming up again behind the young man, putting him in a headlock.

"Lemme go!" shouted the young man, starting to get frustrated with Wakka. Of course, Wakka seemed rather harmless in comparison to what he had been through recently. And down inside, Wakka was only trying to be playful and cheer the young man up. Wakka didn't release the young man.

"Gotta favor to ask ya." Wakka began, but the young man already had an idea of what Wakka wanted to ask.

"You want me on your team, right?" Wakka let go of the young man. The young man then sank into the water, before coming back up again.

"A major blitzball tournament's coming up. All the teams in Spira'll be there. It's so huge that someone there will recognize you! Then you can go back to your old team, right? It'll be fun! What do you say, huh? Come on! Come on!" said Wakka.

The young man just floated on his back in the water, before he would look back at Wakka.

"Sure thing." He said less than enthusiastically, but it seemed to be enough for Wakka. The young man began to swim a distance from Wakka, seeing a shore line.

"Dude! Our team is gonna rock, eh!" Wakka exclaimed as he swam to catch up.

"_I thought then that blitzball and Sin were the only things that Spira and Zanarkand had in common. … …I wasn't that far off, either."_

The two of them came up on the shore, beginning to walk, looking about before reaching the edge of the cliff that they seemed to be standing on. Out in the distance, the young man saw what seemed to be a village that this cliff overlooked.

"This is where I was born. I started blitz when I was five. I joined the Aurochs when I was thirteen… ten years ago. Ten years… and we never won a game. Well, after last year's tournament, I quit. Time seemed right." Wakka said, before walking off, to follow the path that lead downward presumably off the cliff, and again, the young man followed. The young man's stomach growled. "So, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game."

The young man nodded, listening to Wakka. He wondered how anyone could stand losing every game they ever played for ten years straight. It didn't make much sense to the young man. But in one sense he sympathized with Wakka.

"Ten years without a single win'll do that." Said the young man.

"My first match last year was my big chance. But something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus." Wakka said. The young man mentally rolled his eyes.

"Nice excuse." The young man said, the sarcasm practically dripping off from his words.

"Hey, hey!" said Wakka, as if that was a suitable defense.

"So you want to win the next tournament-go out with a bang." The young man mused. Wakka gave a simple nod. "So, what's our goal?" Wakka looked at the young man.

"I don't care how we do, long as we play our best. If we give it our all, I can walk away happy." Wakka said. This began to light a fire in the young man. Clearly he was annoyed with Wakka's lax attitude. Not that the young man was an uptight stiff, but he was passionate about blitzball.

"No, no, no, no, no. If I say 'What's our goal?' you say 'Victory!' When you play in a blitzball tournament, you play to win!" the young man exclaimed. Wakka gave the young man a look that seemed almost contemplative.

"Victory? You serious?" asked Wakka. The young began to wonder if he had any faith in his team, to be asking these sorts of questions. But the young man just nodded as the two of them were walking down the path. They were nearing the village, when they came across two other people. They were both wearing breastplate armor, but the young man found it strange that underneath the breastplate, they were also wearing tropical clothes. Hell the dark-skinned shorter one of the two was wearing red swim trunks. The other one was slightly tall, and had a calm and collected air about him.

"Ah, the one from the sea." Said the taller of the two, in a "matter-of-factly" sort of way. The other one stepped forward.

"Be on your guard, there're fiends on the roads today." He said.

"After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now." The taller one said. With that, they turned around to walk back into the village.

The young man rolled his eyes, apparently annoyed with the two.

"Who were they?" the young man asked. Wakka looked at the young man.

"Luzzu and Gatta, crusaders." Wakka answered, as he pointed them out to distinguish the two of them. The young man didn't seem to understand.

"Crews of what?" he wanted to know. Wakka just looked at him, almost in disbelief.

"What, you forget that too?" he asked. But when the young man hung his head, and seemed like he was lost, the blitzer realized that he might have hit a sensitive spot. "Hey, sorry. Don't worry, I'll help you out." The young man seemed to brighten after hearing that Wakka was going to offer his help.

"Cool," said the young man. "In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup." Wakka smiled.

"Cool. About the Crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village." The young man nodded as they began to walk closer to the village. But before they made it there, they came across two lupine creatures. They resembled wolves, but they were built slightly differently, and a little more muscular than the average wolf. The young man was just glad that these weren't twenty feet tall monstrosities. The young man readied his sword and dashed after one of them, slicing into it watching it disappear into the same cloud of strange lights as pretty much anything else that died here. He was about to go after the other one when he saw a blitzball, the very same blitzball Wakka had been carrying around zoom past him, smashing into the face of the other lupine. It too, disappeared into the cloud of lights. The young man wondered why Wakka was so modest, when his blitzball was strong enough to do something like that to a fiend.

He was about to ask, when Wakka pointed to the village, signifying that they had finally made it.

"Besaid village." Said Wakka, introducing the young man to it. Of course, after everything he had been through, the traveler couldn't give a rat's ass about what its name was. Just…

"They got food there?" the young man asked. Wakka pointed to one of the huts.

"We'll get you something over there later. Take a look around first. Let's see… The Crusader's lodge is over yonder. Luzzu and Gatta are usually over there." Wakka said pointing to a large blue tent. "Oh, right! Over here." Wakka walked behind one of the huts, to which the young man followed shortly after him.

"Huh? What's up?" asked the young man, confused.

"You do remember the prayer, right?" asked Wakka, with an urgent tone.

"I don't remember." The young man said.

"_I didn't know it in the first place, to tell the truth."_

Wakka seemed exasperated, that his new friend seemed to have pretty much all of his memories, save the ones that had to deal with blitzball, stripped from him.

"Man, that's like the basics of the basics. Alright, I'll show you." Wakka said. With that, he performed the same arm and hand gestures that he did when the two of them first met. "Now you try." The young man was hesitant, but he mirrored the same gesture that Wakka had done. Wakka nodded, seemingly pleased that the young man picked it up relatively quickly. "Hm, not bad. Why don't you check out the Crusader Lounge, then present yourself to the temple summoner.

"_Any blitzball player would know that prayer. It was the blitzball sign for victory."_

Wakka had walked off, to carry on whatever business that he had to attend to, while the young man walked around a bit, scratching his head, unsure of what he was supposed to do. With a shrug, he decided that he may as well take Wakka's advice and have a look around town. The young man decided to check out the temple. He didn't really have any desire to visit the Crusader's after their snide remarks.

It wasn't a very far walk to the temple, which on the outside, seemed like a simple enough building, despite it being the largest out of the entire village. Inside however was another matter. It was darkened, but not so much that there was no light shining through. It reminded him of the ruins that he was at before, when Rikku came in, to help him defend himself against that bug-like fiend. But here, there were tall statues the depicted men in robes, to which the young man figured that they were priests or otherwise important men. Around the interior, the young man noticed that people were praying in front of some of these statues, while others were milling about, going on their business, whatever that was.

"_It was then, standing in that place. I began to realize how different this world was from my own."_

Off in the corner, was a statue of a man, clad in robes, holding a staff. There was something about this particular statue that drew the young man to observe it closer. The depiction of the man, was that of a calm, and yet sad man. A man who looked like he had the weight of the entire world, as if it was placed directly, and solely on his shoulders. As the young man gazed at the statue, an older man, which the adventurer presumed was a priest in his own right came up to him.

"Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became high summoner. And finally we received a statue for our temple." The older man said. The adventurer seemed confused about this.

"What's a high summoner?" the young man asked. After he asked, the young man heard a familiar gasping sound, as though his question was borderline treachery. "I… I got too close to Sin's, uh, toxin."

"_It was funny hearing myself use the same excuse over and over. Funny, and a little sad."_

The patrons of the temple eyed him, not quite sure what to make of all of it, but after a moment or two, they seemed to accept his answer. The young man was relieved that they didn't try to ask his hundreds of questions. The older man who had spoke to him before, gave a slight nod, before he would turn fully to face the young man.

"The summoners are practitioners of a sacred art, sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few become summoners, who call forth entities of great power: the aeons. The aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessing of Yevon." The older man said.

"_So what he meant… was that we should respect some kinda great man or something like that… I figured."_

The young man after a moment or two decided that he had enough of the temple, and borderline heresy to a religion he had absolutely no understanding about. He turned and as politely, but as quickly as he could left the temple. He then decided to go to the Crusader's lounge, to get a further insight as to what it was that they did. Approaching the blue tent, he entered inside to find Luzzu and Gatta, lounging about. Almost as soon as he entered, he saw Gatta, the shorter, darker skinned Crusader hop up and approach the young man.

"Hey, you! You were recently attacked by Sin, right?" Gatta asked. The young man didn't exactly like it when people just came up demanding answers… much less these two. But, instead of telling them what he thought about them, he decided to give them a chance, and humor them.

"Yeah, it was pretty recent…why?" the young man asked, slightly suspicious. Gatta seemed over exuberant.

"Then…Sin can't be far away! You're not hiding anything, are you?" Gatta said, casting a scrutinizing eye at the young man, suspicion clearly in his tone. The young man wanted nothing more than to punch this upstart in his lips. But, starting a fight with these guys probably wasn't the best way to make himself known in Besaid. Especially not after asking what a High summoner was, and already grabbing the attention of the clergy.

"Why would I hide something like that?" the young man demanded to know.

But it was Luzzu who spoke next. The young man was grateful for that, since it seemed that Luzzu was the collected type, and probably the senior of the two.

"If Sin is nearby, then it'll attack the island for sure," Luzzu explained. It was clear from the man's facial expression, that Luzzu was deeply troubled by all of this. "I wonder why it hasn't."

"I'm sorry that I can't help you, but I don't really know anything. I don't even know what the Crusaders are." The young man confessed. Both of the other men gave him a look of shock, and of course, Gatta was the one who decided to voice his shock.

"You're kidding, right?" Gatta asked. The young man, once again suppressed his annoyance.

"Sin! The toxin's affected you, hasn't it?" Luzzu asked, cutting off any tension that the young man had with Gatta. "Gatta, tell him who we are." Gatta stood up and gave a military salute before he began his sphiel of the history of the Crusaders.

"Yes sir! The Crusaders are sworn to battle Sin! We have chapters throughout Spira, accepting all who wish to join our struggle. The hero Mi'hen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later, our ranks grew and we called ourselves the Crusaders. We've been fighting Sin Ever since." Gatta said, without even trying to hide his pride in his affiliation with the crusaders. But this left the young man in a pondering state. How could a group of people fight that thing for as long as they have, and not beaten it?

"What, you've been fighting eight hundred years, and you still haven't beaten it?" the young man asked, with obvious emphasis on the word 'still.' Gatta seemed at a loss for words, as his shoulders visually slumped. Luzzu sensing his subordinate's hesitation spoke up.

"Well we've steered Sin away from towns many times! And that's all we can do. Nobody's ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the temples, towns, villages, and people of Spira." Luzzu said. Hearing this only made a little bit of sense to the young man, so it seemed inevitable that he would ask.

"So then whose job is it to defeat Sin?" the young man asked. Once again the two of them looked at the young man with a startled glance. And once again, Gatta spoke.

"Is Sin's toxin really this bad, sir?" Gatta asked, not realizing, or not caring that the young man was able to hear Gatta's question. Luzzu seemed contemplative.

"It does seem rather bad… We could just tell you, but I think it would be better for you to try and remember. Go pray at the temple. Perhaps Yevon will help you regain your memory." Luzzu said. The young man was fed up with talking to the two men, so when Luzzu seemed to dismiss the young man, he was more than willing to oblige. Of course, since the young man had already been at the temple, and having no desire to return back to the temple, he decided to find Wakka. Remembering which hut he had gone to, the young man went over to the hut, and was invited in.

"Sorry, man. No time for lunch, yet. Take a nap! You look bushed." Wakka said. The young man was not about to argue with that, as he would move to the bed, that seemed like it was specifically made for him to crash on… which he did.

…_White Flash…_

"I hope someday, when I get older, I could be a person who could really make a difference in the world. A person who can bring even the tiniest bit of happiness to the world." Michelle said while they were at the woods where the young boy and Michelle would always meet. The young man was across a small little stream that flowed from a pipe out into the woods in which they played in.

"You will, Michelle. And when you do end up making a difference, promise that you'll remember all the little people like me that you climbed over to get there." He said jokingly.

"You know I could never forget you." Michelle said.

…_White Flash…_

"You could at least go see how they are doing." Said the priest from the temple. The young man was stirring in his sleep, as he heard voices.

"We can't interfere. It's a rule." Wakka said, mutedly, so as to not wake up the young man.

"But it's been nearly…" the priest said, as both he and Wakka exited the hut.

…_White Flash…_

Several People were gathered around the house. It having been almost five years since Michelle had died. The young boy had grown up and now there were people gathered inside the house.

"It's been nearly a day now. I suppose there's no denying it anymore. Adam's dead. And people are saying that it's your fault, that my brother was killed. But I know that you're not responsible for it." Said a teenager, who was seventeen. Just a year younger than the young man. The young man, had a grim look upon his face. "And then… there's well, uh…"

The young man knew what was coming next.

"There's my father. You can say it Nick. My father also died recently, but they never found his body." The young man said.

"Yes, the authorities are looking out for him now, see if they can't find any evidence." Said Nick. The young man didn't seem to be paying attention to him. "Hey man… you know you never did tell me what happened with Michelle. Is what they said true? Did you really kill her?"

"Nick…" the young man began to say. But Nick held his hand up, to stop him from talking.

"I know. You'll let me know when you're ready to say anything. I know how much she meant to you. To all of us, really. You, me, Adam, Mike, Anna… everyone really. She was the light of our group back then, you know? The bright star. But… ever since she died… well, the Darkness in all of us began to grow, you worse of all."

"You know me well, friend. Brother." The young man said.

… … …

"Who cares whether he comes back or not?" the young man asked to his mother.

"But, he might be dead." His mother said.

"Good! I hope he is!" the young man said.

"Do you… do you hate your father so?" his mother asked. The young man nodded. "If he's dead, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him."

…_White Flash…_

The young man woke up finding himself alone. Looking around, he wondered where Wakka was. Something told him, with the way that Wakka seemed to be the religious sort, he would make his way to the temple. Not specifically because he wanted to revisit the temple, but because he wanted to find Wakka.

"Wakka?" He said, before he getting up and moving to the temple. When he got there, moving inside, he glanced around the temple once again. After all it was a pretty impressive sight. But he found Wakka, and the old priest, so he walked over to them.

"Is something wrong?" the young man asked. Wakka turned to look at the young man.

"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial." The young man gave Wakka a confused look.

"Eh?" the young man uttered.

"Well, apprentice summoner really." Said Wakka. But it was clear that Wakka's explanation, or rather, lack thereof had appeased the young man's confusion.

"Ah?" the young man again uttered.

"There is a room in there called the Cloister of Trials. Beyond is where the apprentice summoner prays. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a full-fledged summoner, remember?" Wakka explained.

The young man wasn't exactly sure that he understood what Wakka was trying to say to him. But his concern for whomever it was, was genuine enough.

"So someone is in there somewhere and they haven't come back out. Right, got it." Said the young man. It seemed over simplistic enough, but then he pondered at what this meant, if the summoner hasn't come out and had Wakka concerned.

"A day's already gone by." Wakka explained.

"Is it particularly dangerous in there?" the young man asked. Wakka nodded.

"Sometimes, yes."

"Why don't you go in and help?" the young man asked, still not quite grasping this concept.

"There's already guardians in there. Besides, it's forbidden." Wakka answered. The young man wasn't going to have that nonsense put on him, as he began to run partly up the staircase that leads to the Cloister.

"Hey, but what if something happens? What if the summoner dies?!" the young man asked, as he turned back around to look at Wakka.

"The precepts must be obeyed!" said the old priest. The young man growled a little bit, already annoyed with the religious fruitcakes that this village seemed to be filled with.

"Like I give a rat's ass!" he shouted as he ran up the rest of the stairs and entered into the Cloister of Trials. All he could hear was the shocked gasps of all the people who was in the room he just left.

"_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."_

The Cloister was a labyrinth of walkways, orbs, and walls. It seemed to overwhelm the young man at first, but eventually after running around removing orbs here and there and trying out different combinations eventually the young man made it through to a wide room, where Wakka eventually caught up with him.

"Hey! What's gotten into you?" asked Wakka, angry. But then quickly his demeanor changed back to his usual jovial nature. "Hey it's okay. Only apprentice summoners, summoners and their guardians can enter here. It's tradition. Very important." The young man looked at Wakka.

"So what about you?" he asked, wondering why Wakka would be in here then, if he was all about precepts, and religious traditions and all.

"Me? I'm a guardian." He said with a hint of pride in his voice. Again, the young man seemed confused.

"A guardian?" he asked. The two of them stood on a stone platform which seemed to function as an elevator of sorts.

"Summoners go on a pilgrimage to every temple in Spira. Guardians protect them. The guardians in there now… one of them's gotta short fuse, and who knows what the other one's thinking. Well, now that we've come this far; might as well go all the way!" Wakka explained.

The two of them walked into a room, which was furbished eloquently, which made the young man think that this was probably the most important room in the entire temple. He began to notice in the background that someone was singing, but he couldn't really make out the words, if they were even words to begin with. Other than the room and the music, the most obvious things that the young man came to notice was that standing in the room already was a woman.

The woman was slightly shorter than he was, a pale-skinned woman who wore an interesting black dress. The thing that was so interesting about it was that it was comprised mostly with belts. Her black hair was partially done up in a bun, but allowed enough freedom for the length of her hair to come cascading down to her shoulders, perhaps a little past. She seemed to cast a calm and collected air about her, even more so than Luzzu. The young man could only hope that she wasn't as snide as Luzzu was. But he could only hope. But what really caught his attention was an eight foot tall humanoid like creature. His shoulders were broad, and his fur was tinted blue, which made the young man wonder if he was a fiend. But fiends weren't allowed in the temples, were they? The young man didn't think they would be. He caught notice that the beast had his arms crossed against his chest, but was also holding a dangerous looking spear. One that had probably skewered its fair share of fiends, or perhaps people.

"What are you doing here? Didn't think we'd be able to handle it?" the woman said to Wakka in an almost icy tone. Wakka seemed apprehensive, as he answered her.

"No, it's uh…it's just…" Wakka began, before turning to the young man, "see, I told you she gets mad easily." The young man nodded before he turned to the woman.

"Is the summoner all right?" he asked.

"Who are you?" she asked. The young man was a little annoyed that she disregarded his question, but chose to ignore it since he was the one intruding. He opened his mouth to answer the woman's question, but was cut off as he noticed a door sliding open. The apprentice summoner staggered out of the doorway, head bowed low, so the young man couldn't see the apprentice summoner's face. But from what he could tell just from his quick glance, was that the apprentice was indeed a female, which caught him off guard. She had soft brown hair that seemed to extend only to about her shoulders. She had a slim, and petite body. She wore a white top, which was and a purple dress which was reminiscent of a kimono. The apprentice summoner looked for all intensive purposes, drained of all of her energy. She began to stumble, and before the young man could even move, the beast rushed forward to catch her from completely falling. She fixed her hair, by running a hand through it before she would open her eyes to look at the others. The young man saw that she had heterochromatic eyes. One of them clear blue, the other… emerald green. The young man had never seen anything like them, and instantly he seemed enraptured by them. She had been sweating profusely, and because of it, her face seemed to sheen through the glistening of the sweat. The young man clearly was surprised by how stunning the summoner looked. But he had no time to stare, as she began to stand up on her own volition now.

"I've done it. I have become a summoner!" the apprentice summoner said, the sound of exhaustion evident in her voice. When she was ready to go, the summoner, Wakka, the beast man, the pale-skinned woman, and the young man, exited the Cloister to move to the foyer of the temple. There were happy exclamations that the summoner had returned. As they began to surround her and her guardians. The young man, just hung in the background not wanting to get caught up in the chaos, and also to not remind them of what he had done so quickly. He just watched as they began to exit out of the temple, leaving the young man to his thoughts.

"_Man, was I surprised. And here I was thinking that summoners were all old geezers."_

The young man had enough of temples for one day, as he ran outside to join Wakka and the others. When Wakka saw the young man, he called out to him.

"Hey! Over here!" Wakka called out. He grabbed the young man and dragged him over to where everyone else had gathered. Which seemed to be a circle within the village. This was where the summoner and her other guardians were at.

"What? Ow!" said the young man. Wakka, smiled, as he turned his head to the young man.

"Wait till you see this!" said Wakka with obvious anticipation in his voice.

"I don't see anything." The young man said.

"Ready." Wakka said to the summoner. The summoner nodded meekly looking at the crowd that had gathered.

"Okay." She said. The summoner nodded once, and then twirled her blue and gold staff in a series of complicated patterns as a series of glowing sigils appeared around her. Then, in response to the magic, a huge birdlike creature dropped gracefully out of the sky and landed before the one who called it. It, or she, rather, had magenta feathers, a lavender tail and legs, beige wings, and strangely enough, the torso of a human female. The great bird lowered her silvery head and shut her diamond bright eyes in a lazy kind of bliss as her caller gently patted her beak. Everyone was clearly impressed with the summoner, as the young man was in awe of her, and this creature that looked more fierce and anything else he had ever encountered in his life seem so docile in front of the summoner. Wakka and the female guardian entered the circle congratulating the summoner. He had overheard from some of the people who were talking amongst themselves that the creature's name was Valefor. It was a strange name in the young man's opinion, but somehow, he thought that it fit it perfectly.

"_I had never seen anything like it in my life. Sure, it was a little scary, but still… I could feel a strange kind of gentleness from it."_

The crowd began to surround the summoner again, as the great bird like creature took to the air again. And again, the young man just stepped away from the crowds, not wanting to get lost and swept up in it.

"_I remember… that night we talked for the first time. I didn't know it then, but after that night, everything changed. For everyone… for me…"_


End file.
